bradley@cis.ohio-state.edu (Pete Bradley) (01/26/89)
I have a brother who is very interested in buying a Macintosh. I repair them for a living and would like to offer him something else. I have skimmed through about 500 + articles in comp.sys.atari.st and I think I've got the basic idea. I have a few questions though, and would appreciate it if someone could email me the answers. 1) Can the latest system software be run using the Spector 128, (i.e. 6.0 )? 2) It looks like the basic setup is an Atari1040 st with a Spector 128, the necessary chips, (more on that in a sec) and Translator one. The last item allows disks used on Macs to be copied/used in the Spector 128 world? I would like to give him my old Mac files so something which makes use of HFS disks would help a lot. 3) The chips need to be purchased separately? Are they difficult to obtain? What is the estimated cost? 4) What is the ballpark cost for the entire setup? 5) Most importantly, can anyone recommend a good dealer in the Pittsburgh PA area I can point him to? He lives in the Penn Hills area, I think. My brother would be coming from the standpoint of a beginning Mac user, so He would like to use the basic stuff, (MacWrite, MacDraw, etc etc). I've read some of the difficulties with Multifinder. I don't like to use it myself. Are there any other applications to worry about, again he would be a basic user, nothing fancy to start with. Thanks for all the info. Pete Bradley | Take the acid out of our rain, keep it in bradley@cis.ohio-state.edu | soft drinks where it belongs !!! hardware@cis.ohio-state.edu |
dlm@druhi.ATT.COM (Dan Moore) (01/28/89)
in article <32587@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu>, bradley@cis.ohio-state.edu (Pete Bradley) says: > 1) Can the latest system software be run using the Spector 128, (i.e. 6.0)? The Spectre 128(tm) supports all of the recent versions of Finder and System, including 6.0. Just don't use MultiFinder since it plays with the buss-error vector that the Spectre needs. (NOTE: Normal Macs never have buss-errors, only Mac IIs with MMUs can get one. Is Apple planning a version of MultiFinder that uses the MMU in the Mac II?) > 2) It looks like the basic setup is an Atari1040 st with a Spector 128, the > necessary chips, (more on that in a sec) and Translator one. The last > item allows disks used on Macs to be copied/used in the Spector 128 > world? I would like to give him my old Mac files so something which > makes use of HFS disks would help a lot. The Translator One(tm) will allow you to read/write/format Mac(tm) single sided (MFS) and double sided (HFS) disks on the ST with the Spectre. There are two problems with the Translator One: 1) it is slow, data to/from the Mac disks is transfered via the MIDI port; 2) Data Pacific is slow about shipping them right now due to early problems with the FCC. It is a reasonable method of moving data between Macs and STs. Gadgets by Small is currently working on the Spectre GCR. This is a new version of the Spectre that includes the ability to read, write and format Mac disks. The Spectre GCR will be MUCH faster than the Translator One, about the same speed as a real Mac. It "should" be available by late spring/early summer. (That is an imformed guess, NOT a statement by Gadgets.) > 3) The chips need to be purchased separately? Are they difficult to obtain? > What is the estimated cost? You need to buy the 128K (or 64K) Mac ROMs yourself. Gadgets by Small does not sell them. The ROMs are fairly easy to obtain, some Atari dealers carry them, most Mac dealers do. Or check the ads in "Computer Shopper". Expect to spend between $50 and $100 for the ROMs. Be careful, most Mac dealers try to sell you the ROMs plus a Mac double sided drive, which you can't use. Dan Moore AT&T Bell Labs Denver dlm@druhi.ATT.COM dlm@druwy.ATT.COM
Xorg@cup.portal.com (Peter Ted Szymonik) (01/28/89)
I have been running Spectre 128 since December...
1- I use System 4.2 and Finder 6.0, but System 6.0.1 works fine as
well except on programs that can't use it normally on a Mac Plus.
2- The 1040 is the basic set-up but I'd recommend a Mega 2 since the
price is only a few hundred more if you can find a deal (look
for $1,300 with mono), and Spectre 128 works fine with HFS format
disks!
3- The chips have to be bought seperately for legal reasons, along with
Spectre you get a list of dealers who sell Mac Roms, a set is currently
running around $125-175.
4- Ballpark figure is Spectre 128 for $180, chips for the price above,
and the price of either the Translator One or The Happy Cart to
change Mac->Spectre and Spectre-> Mac format - BUT Spectre GCR
is due out fairly soon and will directly read and write Mac disks
at 100% Mac speed and MUCH less cost than the above set up so if
can wait a few months do so! (Dave Small has hinted at a trade-in
polict for current Spectre buyers as well - what a guy!)
5- Spectre 128 has worked flawlessly with every major package I've
tried so far, games are sometimes a problem with copy-protection
as are PD programs that don't follow Apple's Mac programming guidelines.
6- More Questions? Just ask!
Pete